Maradona to reunite with Lineker at World Cup draw

Diego Maradona will be reunited on stage with World Cup rival Gary Lineker at the draw in Moscow next week.

Fifa says Maradona will represent Argentina in the State Kremlin Palace, where all eight World Cup-winning nations will send a playing great to assist in the draw.

Maradona, now in charge of UAE club Fujairah, captained Argentina to the 1986 title, eliminating Lineker’s England in the quarter-finals with the help of his “Hand of God” goal in Mexico City.

Lineker will host the 32-nation ceremony on December 1. England will be officially represented by Gordon Banks, goalkeeper on the 1966 team.

The other draw assistants are Laurent Blanc, Cafu, Fabio Cannavaro, Diego Forlan, Carles Puyol and Nikita Simonyan for host Russia. Former Germany forward Miroslav Klose will bring the World Cup trophy on stage.

Qualified countries are eagerly awaiting the emergence of their group opponents with many hoping praying to have wheat they dubbed favorable draw that can guarantee survival in the first stage.

Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal Tunisia and Morocco will be representing the continent in Russia. Super Eagles made history as the first African country to qualify for Russia 2018, booking a ticket even before the last match against Algeria. The Gernot Rohr tutored side will be hoping to improve on their performance at the Mundial.

Russia 2018 would mark Nigeria’s 6th appearance at the stage. In the 1994 edition in USA the Eagles booked exit in the group of 16 losing in the final match to Italy 2-1 after extra time. In the 1998 edition in France the Eagles again booked exit in the round of 16, losing 4-1 to Denmark. The 2002 and 2010 editions were recorded as the poorest outing with first round crash outs. In 2014 in Brazil the Eagles returned to the group of 16 exit. Nigerians are optimistic that the Eagles can go past the group of 16 with some intensifying prayer for the team to escape group of death come December 1 when the draw will be made in the Kremlin Palace.